Ancient China tomb reveals oldest known dragon-phoenix pairing

Archaeologists in China have uncovered the oldest known pairing of a dragon and a phoenix, figures that have symbolised power and rebirth throughout Chinese history. The find, unveiled in mid-August, dates back about 4,300 years to the Longshan era (3000 BC-1900 BC).

According to the Global Times, the pair was made as clay statues roughly the size of a human body and placed beside a body in a grave in Inner Mongolia, northern China. The dragon was positioned to the right of the body, its head close to the human skull, while the phoenix on the left was shown soaring upward. Dental analysis showed a diet richer in meat than was typical for the era, suggesting the person was likely of higher social standing.

Sun Jinsong, head of the Inner Mongolia Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, told the Global Times that the discovery "pushes back the materialised representation of the dragon and phoenix to the Longshan era." Researchers say the statues offer evidence of a complex society developing in northern China near the end of the Neolithic period, before the region's unified state existed.

The pairing is the oldest known combined depiction, but not the earliest appearance of either figure alone. The earliest known dragon image comes from a 5,000-year-old jade carving found in another Inner Mongolia tomb, while the phoenix, known as fenghuang, first appeared in central China's Henan province between 6000 BC and 7000 BC. The two figures were originally split by gender, the male feng and the female huang, before merging into a single unisex form over time.

Dragon-and-phoenix imagery became popular as burial objects during the Shang dynasty (1600 BC-1046 BC) and remained prominent in art through the Warring States period (475 BC-221 BC), including the Silk Painting of a Human Figure with Dragon and Phoenix. The Longshan era itself is known for its polished black pottery and encompassed a diverse range of regional communities.